I'm starting to have a real problem with going to school

I did not deny any amount of truth in W's statement. I just said that we should not exaggerate the amount. Indeed, that implies I thought there was some truth in W's statement, although not a lot. Neither did I say that exaggeration was not good, although I have explained about a billion times why I thought exaggeration was the very worst thing in the entire universe.

why would the harvard professor not want to speak to us the uneducated or the children? I think he would, and if not he would be missing out on something more than what we would be missing out on.

every age has its perspective and it keeps the old more in tune and in touch to speak to the young. in a sense it is the same with the educated and the uneducated. I have met a number of illiterate people now and they are often brilliant like a beginner's mind kind of thing. I taught a man to play chess-he was determined to catch on and did soon enough to beat me. I also taught him to read english numbers-he was illiterate in his own language, but of course knew math and numbers because it is necessary for daily life. most numbers here are written in english however-so he was at a disadvantage there, and had a strong incentive to learn. he mastered it quickly...

. . . also being able to put up with the bulls**t. You absolutely have to learn to put up with bulls**t, and if secondary education taught me anything, its how to cope with bulls**t.

You can sit back and complain about how unfair it all is, or you can be a warrior.

What I mean by "deny any amount of truth" is not to deny that any exists, but that truth contained in your statement does not limit the amount of truth that may be in William's statement, does not deny that there may be a lot, and therefore your "so" statement is a non-sequitur.

This may be true. However, I know from personal experience that taking advantage of what the educational system does have to offer can provide you with an excellent set of tools to help you win your personal wars.

I think Maynard would agree. Maynard James Keenan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can sit back and complain about how unfair it all is, or you can be a warrior. There are no guarantees how your life will turn out regardless of how you behave or what you do.

If you fail, wouldn't you rather go down fighting, rather than whimpering about how unjustly you were treated and whining about how things ought to be?

So be the warrior; be a tragic hero at least.

Dan.

I like that very much:
So be the warrior; be a tragic hero at least.

It seems important to me that Greek tragedy developed from a religious ritual, a celebration of Dionysus I believe. It's as if tragic heroes are made from the stuff of Gods. Heroism and the sacred seem intimately connect, for is it not the sacred that motivates us to heroism?

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And hay, kennethamy, let them all sit with a Harvard professor and find out they have nothing to say and far too much to prove.

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Yogi DMT, there are many things in the typical formal education that are not what they should be. There are a variety of reasons for that, which I will not presently get into, beyond observing the fact that different people have different ideas of what it should be, some of whom are morons. As for not valuing money, do you value having food to eat? A roof over your head? Like it or not, the world is presently organized around money, and you must deal with the brute facts of the world. It is what it is, with all of its flaws. If you are able to change it for the better, great. But if not, you must deal with it as it is.

The things you own end up owning you. Agreed it would be hard, but ultimately it's a better way to live.

Poverty would deprive me of material objects yes, and luxuries too. You know, not everyone has to find happiness in those things. As far as getting tired, I would think it be the other way around. Money can only bring you so much, would you need get tired of the life that a bunch of money could bring you. Money isn't everything my friend, it's a shame we're so dependent that we cannot live without it. Our values are all messed up. Success is measured by how much money we have not what truly matter such as what we accomplish and the impact that we've had on the lives of others.

Well try it. William James was all for what he called, "experiments in living". But, it is always a good idea to have an exit strategy. By the way, I don't think that Einstein's success was measured by how much money he had, nor even, I think, Bill Gates'

But your normal everyday guy is judged by his car, his house, etc. I don't think anyone thinks fondly of the homeless. Success today is measured by money, unfortunately.

you are in the grip of a theory, and facts no longer matter.